When Pokemon Go hit this summer, I couldn't wait to come up with a way to incorporate a similar virtual reality aspect in my library. I decided to welcome my students back to school with a 'Pokemon Go to the Library' style orientation/ scavenger hunt on their first day in the library.

How it works:​Each library table works as a group with a Samsung Galaxy tablet and the Aurasma app (available on iTunes or Google Play for FREE) to search our library for the 17 'Pokemon' I hid throughout the room. The Aurasma app allowed me to bring different locations in my library to life with an image.. As my students scan the room with the app, "Pokemon" (or pictures of them I've created and linked with the app) will pop up on their screen.

When students discover a 'Pokemon,' they come to the ​circulation desk and let me know what 'Pokemon' they found: Pidgey #1 for example. I then pull out the 1st Pidgey library/ computer lab expectation and read it with them. They also receive a paper Pidgey to add to their 'Pokedex.' The students then take the library expectation and 'Pokemon' to throw the Pokeball to earn Pidgey 'candy.' They draw a cut paper candy from the bucket and take the expectation, picture and candy to their table and start searching for another.

At the end of each class I review all the expectations, announce which team the different tables were playing for: Team Valor, Team Instinct or Team Mystic, add any 'Pokemon' they caught to the team 'Pokedex' and add up the total candy they found. A 'Pokemon Master' comes to the library each day to help me evolve any 'Pokemon' that have accumulated enough candy.

My students are highly engaged and would love if we did this type of review all year long. I'll have to come up with other ways we can incorporate this throughout the year.